Devanagari
अनन्तपारे तमसि मग्नो नष्टस्मृति: समा: ।
शाश्वतीरनुभूयार्तिं प्रमदासङ्गदूषित: ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
ananta-pāre tamasi
magno naṣṭa-smṛtiḥ samāḥ
śāśvatīr anubhūyārtiṁ
pramadā-saṅga-dūṣitaḥ
Synonyms
ananta
—
pāre — unlimitedly expanded
;
tamasi
—
in the material existence of darkness
;
magnaḥ
—
being merged
;
naṣṭa
—
smṛtiḥ — bereft of all intelligence
;
samāḥ
—
for many years
;
śāśvatīḥ
—
practically eternally
;
anubhūya
—
experiencing
;
ārtim
—
the threefold miseries
;
pramadā
—
of women
;
saṅga
—
by association
;
dūṣitaḥ
—
being contaminated .
Translation
Due to his contaminated association with women, a living entity like King Puraṣjana eternally suffers all the pangs of material existence and remains in the dark region of material life, bereft of all remembrance for many, many years.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Merged in unending darkness, devoid of memory, experiencing pain for infinite years, and, contaminated by association with a woman, he remembered in his mind that woman, and finally was born in the house of a great king of Vidarbha as the best of women.
He was merged in darkness devoid of end, in suffering. Since he worshipped through many sacrifices, it should be understood that he also enjoyed happiness in Svarga for many years. This is not mentioned in order to create a sense of renunciation in Prācīnabarhi. Because of remembering a woman he became a woman. The spiritual perspective is this. It was said that, because one faints from the extreme pain at the time of death, the loss of dharmic intelligence is temporary. After enjoying in Svarga with the exhaustion of pious deed, he regains his dharmic intelligence and is born in the house of a person following dharma. That is the intention of the verse. However, attaining a body of a man or woman was not mentioned. The various options of birth however, such as man or woman, are not mentioned here. This is explained later:
kvacit pumān kvacic ca strī kvacin nobhayam andha-dhīḥ
devo manuṣyas tiryag vā yathā-karma-guṇaṁ bhavaḥ
This foolish jīva is sometimes a man and sometimes he is a woman. Sometimes he is eunuch. Sometimes he is a devatā, a human or an animal. His birth takes place according to the guṇas and his actions. SB 4.29.29
Purport
This is a description of material existence. Material existence is experienced when one becomes attached to a woman and forgets his real identity as the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa (
naṣṭa-smṛtiḥ
). In this way, in one body after another, the living entity perpetually suffers the threefold miseries of material existence. To save human civilization from the darkness of ignorance, this movement was started. The main purpose of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to enlighten the forgetful living entity and remind him of his original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way the living entity can be saved from the catastrophe of ignorance as well as bodily transmigration. As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung:
anādi karama-phale, paḍi’ bhavārṇava-jale,
taribāre nā dekhi upāya
e viṣaya-halāhale, divā-niśi hiyā jvale,
mana kabhu sukha nāhi pāya
“Because of my past fruitive activities, I have now fallen into an ocean of nescience. I cannot find any means to get out of this great ocean, which is indeed like an ocean of poison. We are trying to be happy through sense enjoyment, but actually that so-called enjoyment is like food that is too hot and causes burning in the heart. I feel a burning sensation constantly, day and night, and thus my mind cannot find satisfaction.”
Material existence is always full of anxiety. People are always trying to find many ways to mitigate anxiety, but because they are not guided by a real leader, they try to forget material anxiety through drink and sex indulgence. Foolish people do not know that by attempting to escape anxiety by drink and sex, they simply increase their duration of material life. It is not possible to escape material anxiety in this way.
The word
pramadā-saṅga-dūṣitaḥ
indicates that apart from all other contamination, if one simply remains attached to a woman, that single contamination will be sufficient to prolong one’s miserable material existence. Consequently, in Vedic civilization one is trained from the beginning to give up attachment for women. The first stage of life is
brahmacārī,
the second stage
gṛhastha,
the third stage
vānaprastha,
and the fourth stage
sannyāsa.
All these stages are devised to enable one to detach himself from the association of women.